Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor. Part Three. Even more foreign Users

 

The Focke-Wulf Fw.200 Condor was a German four-engined monoplane designed and manufactured by Focke-Wulf which was initially conceived as an airliner. Luftwaffe and Lufthansa were its main users, however, there were many other non German users of the Fw.200:

• USSR: During World War 2, many Fw.200s were captured by the Soviets and push into service with the VVS (Soviet Air Force). The first machine depicted below was captured at Gumrak, Stalingrad, in January 1943. Repainted with Soviet markings, it was evaluated by the NII-VSS (Soviet Air Force's Scientific Test Institute) and it was displayed in Moscow for a brief period of time. Its fate is unknown.
  Many more were captured by the Soviets during the late period of the war. Some of these machines were reconverted Fw.200C bombers turned into airliners during 1944 to serve with Lufthansa in order to evacuate high-ranking officers and personalities from Germany. Due to the constant bombing of Germany, very few machines were reconverted.
  When the Soviet Army conquered Germany, at least three of those repurposed machines were captured and, eventually sent to serve with Aeroflot (Soviet airlines), at the Arctic Sea division. Those three planes were registered as H-400, H-401 and H-500, though it's believed that there could've been a fourth one. 
  Due to the harsh conditions of the Arctic Sea, these machines suffered many breakdowns and failures due to their temperature-sensitive Bramo engines. In fact, H-400 crash-landed on the Polar Circle in April 1946. The other machine, H-401, depicted below, served in the Polar reconnaissance role until 1950, when it was written off. Its fate is unknown, but it was most probably scrapped.
  However, H-500 was assigned to Polar Aviation in as late as 1948. It was under reparation at Factory No. 23 in Moscow and had its original Bramo engines replaced by Russian Shvetsov ASh-62 engines. It's not clear though if the engines were fitted at Factory No.23 or they were replaced in 1950 after a maintenance accident in which an oil cooler was destroyed. Anyway it received the unofficial denomination of Focke-Wulf Mk.200 and it was used to supply remote Arctic scientific outpost until April 1950 when it crash-landed and was damaged beyond reparation at Yakutsk airport, putting an end to the Fw.200 in the USSR.
• Spain: A single unarmed Fw.200C-4 served with the Spanish Air Force, at the Escuela Superior de Vuelo (Superior Air School) in Salamanca, Old Castile. This airplane, serialled T-4.2, based at Bordeaux-Merignac, landed in Seville on 1st January 1943 after having been attacked over Casablanca. It was interned and later bought by the Spanish Air Force.
  Four additional Fw.200s crash-landed in Spain during the war. They were bought by the Spanish authorities, but they were not pushed into service for political reasons and they were used as a source for spare parts. 
  The machine labeled as T-4.2 served until 1950 when it was grounded due to a lack of spare parts.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200_Condor

2. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focke-Wulf_Fw_200 (translated)

3. https://www.luftfahrtmuseum-hannover.de/index.php/en/neuigkeiten-2/aircraft-of-the-month/629-modell-des-monats-januar-2022

4. Osprey Publishing - Combat Aircraft 115 - Fw 200 Condor Units of World War II